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Hyundai rolls out the fun at SEMA: Carmaker brings seven show cars to Las Vegas

October 31, 2012

Hyundai's North American technical center created the Velocity concept for the SEMA show. Photo by MARK VAUGHN

It was hard to pick a favorite of the seven Hyundais on the company's SEMA show stand, so we narrowed it down to these three podium finishers.

-- The HATCI Velocity. Pronounced "hatchee" for the Hyundai America Technical Center Inc., this is the design, technology and engineering arm for Hyundai in North America. HATCI employees made the body kit, including that unique "lift-reducing" rear spoiler and aero side skirt lip. Inside is Katzkin custom suede and neat storage space for helmets. Underhood is a Cosworth turbo, intercooler and engine management system. The performance goal was 400 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque.

-- Cosworth Racing Series Concept. Cosworth did everything on this car, from the carbon fiber body kit to the satin/gloss blue paint. But more to its specialties, Cosworth also reworked the 3.8-liter Hyundai V6 with new engine controller mapping, cold air intake and high-flow exhaust, the goal being 396 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque.

The Bisimoto Elantra at SEMA sports a massive turbocharger.

-- Bisimoto Elantra GT. Bisimoto is best known for tuning inline fours and flat-six Porsches, hence, the main draw of this tuner Elantra was the massive Turbonetics BTX6462 turbo attached to the Hyundai 1.8-liter four. It seemed to take up half the engine bay. Together with a long list of other engine upgrades, it's listed at 602 hp and 409 lb-ft of torque. Yow. They didn't start it up on the stand when we were there, sadly.

Hyundai has been bringing show cars to SEMA for several years. Hopefully we'll see some of these parts, or something like them, available from the OEM sometime soon.

Mark Vaughn
- After slumming in Europe five years covering F1 etc. Mark Vaughn interviewed with Autoweek at the 1989 Frankfurt motor show has been with us ever since because no one else will take him. Anyone?
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